A child’s rights issue I care about is homelessness and mental health…

I feel that anyone who has or is going through homelessness will agree with me that it has a big impact on people’s mental health. How does anyone expect people to be happy when they don’t have a home that they can call their own? Some people live in hotels or family hubs, but it is not the same as having their own home.

Homelessness is a horrible thing to go through at any age. If you are a child who is going through homelessness imagine the stress that you would be under trying to go to school, do exams or after-school hobbies, and still be worrying about when you will be getting a home of your own? How can you have sleepovers with your friends if you live in a hotel? It would be hard, so let’s put ourselves in their shoes.

Living in the one room with maybe your 2-3 siblings plus your mam. So yes, it’s going to affect your mental health. Going to school and hearing all the other kids brag about their homes while you’re living in a hotel. So always remember if you’re talking to someone who’s going through homelessness never show off about what you have and always be grateful for what you have, it might not be a lot to you but to someone else, it is the world. These kids would be embarrassed about living in a hotel because of bullying. Some homeless accommodation does not provide meals or cooking facilities, so people have to eat out which is very unhealthy.

Sometimes people aren’t lucky enough to have any homeless accommodation and would have to stay in a police station. I myself have gone through homelessness and it was one of the worst experiences of my life.  I had to give up boxing, was out of school for 8 months, and had to give away our family pet. I was eating takeaway food most of the time because we had no cooking facilities. We had to be out of our accommodation at a certain time, no visitors, me, my mam, and brother in the one room and this went on for a year and a half. It felt like we had no control over our lives. If been homeless taught me anything, it would be never taking anything for granted and always be grateful for what you have in life.

If I was in government, I would spend more money on apartments for everyone and not just for student accommodation. In hotels I would put cooking facilities for families to use, each homeless child should be involved in a youth program so they can meet other children and have a normal childhood. Each homeless family would get a key worker to help them with their journey in getting a new home. If they are put in homeless accommodation, it should be long term so then families don’t have to keep dragging their bags around. People should do more charity events in aid of the homeless.

I really hope there is a decrease in homelessness very soon because it’s getting very out of hand, my heart breaks for anyone suffering homelessness.